Patrick Traverse Autographed Team Postcard

Patrick Traverse was an honest, hard-working journeyman until he set foot in the Montréal Canadiens' dressing room, where he became a #7 defenseman on a basement-dwelling team. The Habs needed offensive defensemen, and they had a couple of better options ahead of him for that; they needed toughness (still do) and despite his 6'4'', 200-pound frame, he wasn't the meanest out there; so, with the team in need of pretty much everything, the one guy who was cast aside was the dependable defensive-minded defender, and that hurt the rest of his career, because no one wants to hire the guy who wasn't good enough for the worst team in the history of a 100-year old franchise (a "feat" which was surpassed last season).

Prior to playing with the Habs, he'd had successful stints with the Ottawa Senators and Boston Bruins (and a half-decent stop with the Anaheim Mighty Ducks), but after that, he only played one game with the Dallas Stars in the next 9 seasons, while he dressed for 4 different AHL teams (two stints with the Hamilton Bulldogs), and two teams in Germany, where he's spent the last 3 seasons. He's currently unemployed, perhaps because of the high number of NHLers overseas during the lockout, many of whom are taking a select number of ''foreigner'' spots.

I met him at the Habs' Jamboree before the 2002-03 season, and while we didn't spend much time together, he was nice enough to sign this team postcard in blue sharpie.